Systems and methods for determining the driver of a vehicle

ABSTRACT

A system and method for disabling distracting apps on a driver&#39;s personal devices while allowing passengers travelling in the same vehicle to have full use of their personal devices. The system works by first identifying all the personal devices that are in the vehicle and then establishing a loose mesh network between those devices. Once the mesh network is established, the system identifies which of the personal devices is associated with the driver, and ensures that any distracting apps on the driver&#39;s personal device are disabled, while allowing full functionality for any passenger&#39;s personal devices.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a Division of Russell, U.S. Pat. No. 11,356,550,issued on Jun. 7, 2022, and titled “Systems And Methods For DeterminingThe Driver Of A Vehicle,” which application is a Continuation ofRussell, U.S. Pat. No. 10,863,020, issued on Dec. 8, 2020, and titled“Systems And Methods For Determining The Driver Of A Vehicle,” whichclaimed the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No.62/868,014 filed Jun. 28, 2019 and titled “Systems And Methods ForDetermining The Driver Of A Vehicle.” The disclosures of everyapplication listed above are incorporated by reference herein in theirentirety for all purposes.

TECHNICAL FIELD

This disclosure relates generally to systems and methods for enhancingsafety in motor vehicles by disabling distracting apps on the personaldevices associated with the driver of the vehicle.

BACKGROUND

It is now well understood that a significant number of vehicle accidentsoccur while drivers are distracted by their personal devices, such assmartphones, tablets and laptops. Despite many warnings and publicservice announcements alerting drivers of the risks they are taking byresponding to or making telephone calls, reading or sending textmessages, or reading communications received via any of the severalsocial media platforms, accidents due to such distracted drivingcontinue to happen at an alarming rate. One possible solution to thisissue—disabling all personal devices in a vehicle once the vehicle is inmotion—is unsatisfactory because disabling the personal devices ofpassengers serves no useful purpose. Even less drastic measures, such asprecluding making phone calls based upon GPS position may beunsatisfactory because they do not preclude a personal device from beingused for texting or accessing social media, for example.

Instead, in many cases, allowing passengers (but not drivers) toentertain themselves during a long drive makes the trip more pleasurable(or at least more tolerable) for both the driver and the passengers.Also, drivers often may need to use certain apps while they are drivingthat are sufficiently useful such that their usefulness outweighs anyslight increase in the risk posed by any distraction caused by the apps.Examples of such apps include a hands-free app for receiving telephonecalls and a navigation app.

For these reasons, there is a need for systems and methods that limitdrivers' uses of their personal devices, but allow passengers full useof their personal devices.

SUMMARY

In one aspect, embodiments include a method for reducing distractionsfor the driver of a motor vehicle by having a first personal devicebroadcast pings that include a time stamp identifying when the pingswere sent. A second personal device receives the pings, calculates thatit is probably collocated with the first personal device, and respondsby reporting its position and velocity relative to the first personaldevice, and the time it received the ping from the first device. Thefirst personal device then determines that the second personal device isproximal to the first personal device and establishes a mesh networkwith the second personal device. The first personal device and thesecond personal device then exchange identification of any additionalpersonal devices that might have previously been identified by either ofthe two devices, eliminate any duplicates, and add the de-duplicateddevices to the mesh network. The method then identifies which of thepersonal devices are associated with the driver of the motor vehicle,and which are associated with passengers, and disables all distractingapps from the driver's personal devices.

In another aspect, embodiments include a method for reducingdistractions for a driver of a motor vehicle using a first personaldevice broadcasting pings that include a time stamp identifying the timewhen the pings were sent, and a second personal device that receives thepings broadcast by the first personal device. The second personal devicethen calculates the distance from the first personal device to thesecond personal device based at least in part on the time the pings werereceived compared to the time identified in the time stamp. The firstpersonal device and the second personal device establish a mesh networkbetween them, and further determine whether any additional personaldevices are collocated with the first personal device and the secondpersonal device. The first personal device and the second personaldevice then add any additional personal devices that have beendetermined to be collocated with the first personal device and thesecond personal device within the motor vehicle to the mesh network,identify any personal devices that are associated with the driver of thevehicle, and disable any distracting apps present in the personaldevices associated with the driver of the motor vehicle.

In yet another aspect, embodiments include a method for reducingdistractions for a driver of a motor vehicle in which a first personaldevice broadcasts pings that include time stamps identifying when thepings were sent. A second personal device receives the pings broadcastby the first personal device at specific receiving times, and calculatesits position relative to the first personal device based upondifferences between the times identified by the time stamps and thespecific receiving times. The first personal device then determines thatthe second personal device is collocated with the first personal devicewithin the motor vehicle, and establishes a mesh network between thefirst personal device and the second personal device. The first personaldevice and the second personal device then identify any additionalpersonal devices that may be collocated within the vehicle, identifywhich of the personal devices are associated with the driver of thevehicle, and disable any distracting apps on the personal devicesassociated with the driver of the vehicle.

Other systems, methods, features and advantages of the invention willbe, or will become, apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art uponexamination of the following figures and detailed description. It isintended that all such additional systems, methods, features andadvantages be included within this description and this summary, bewithin the scope of the invention, and be protected by the followingclaims.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The embodiments disclosed herein may be better understood with referenceto the following listed drawings and their descriptions. The componentsin the drawings are schematic rather than representational, and are notnecessarily to scale, the emphasis of the disclosure being placed uponillustrating the purpose of implementing the systems and methodsdisclosed herein. Moreover, in the drawings, like reference numeralsdesignate corresponding parts throughout the drawings.

FIG. 1 is an exemplary illustration showing an automobile carrying adriver and passengers in traffic.

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of an embodiment of a typical personaldevice such as a smartphone showing examples of applications that may beinstalled on the device.

FIG. 3 is an exemplary illustration of a mesh network that may beestablished between the personal devices shown in FIG. 1 , in anembodiment.

FIG. 4 is an exemplary flowchart showing how a mesh network may beestablished between the devices shown in FIG. 1 , in an embodiment.

FIG. 5 is an exemplary flowchart showing how the additional devices maybe added to the mesh network if collocated, in an embodiment.

FIG. 6 is an exemplary flowchart showing how a non-responsive device maybe detected and removed from the mesh network, in an embodiment.

FIG. 7 is an exemplary flowchart showing how a driver's device may beidentified, in an embodiment.

FIG. 8 is an exemplary flowchart showing how a change in drivers may bedetected, and the adjustments that may be made as a result, in anembodiment.

FIG. 9 is an exemplary flowchart showing how the system might respond toa possible accident, in an embodiment.

DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS

The embodiments disclosed herein provide systems and methods fordisabling certain functions on a driver's personal devices whileallowing passengers travelling in the same vehicle to have full use oftheir personal devices.

As used herein, the term “personal device” shall cover all kinds ofsmart communications and/or computer devices such as smartphones,tablets and personal computers (including notebook computers, laptopcomputers and desktop computers). Also, the term “distracting app(s)”shall refer to apps on a personal device that are more distracting thanlistening to a radio at a normal volume or chatting with a passenger.

The systems work by first identifying all the personal devices that arein the vehicle. The basis for this identification is the proximity ofeach personal device to the other personal devices, as well as thevelocity and direction of the motions of the personal devices. Once thepersonal devices that are determined to be collocated within the vehicle(based upon the criteria described in more detail below) have beenidentified, the system establishes a loose mesh network among thedevices. In some embodiments, the mesh network may use a wirelesstechnology such as Bluetooth to determine whether personal devices arecollocated, or to implement communications between personal devices. Inother embodiments, the personal devices may use other wirelesstechnologies.

In some cases, the location of the personal devices may be determinedusing acoustic waves. For example, the time information may be sentwirelessly, and the distance may be determined based upon the time delayin receiving an acoustic ping. In some cases, the mesh network may alsoinclude one or all of the vehicle's own systems such as units thatreport the vehicle configuration or monitoring units that monitor seatbelt usage, passenger seat occupation, vehicle location based on GPScoordinates, whether headlights or windshield wipers are turned on, andwhether the vehicle's doors are opened or closed, for example. In othercases, the mesh network may simply be in communication with thevehicle's configuration or monitoring units so that it can receiveinformation (such as the vehicle's configuration, velocity, directionand location) from these systems, without including them in the meshnetwork.

After the loose mesh network of the personal devices in the vehicle hasbeen established, the system determines which of the personal devices isassociated with the driver of the vehicle, and which ones are associatedwith any of the passengers travelling in the vehicle. Based upon thevehicle's size and configuration, input from the vehicle's ownmonitoring units, in-vehicle video camera, and/or geographical location,the system may assume that the driver is in the left front seat (theU.S. and many other countries) or in the right front seat (the U.K. andsome other countries). The system may then disable certainfunctionalities in the driver's one or more personal devices, whileallowing full functionality for the passengers' personal devices. Forexample, the system may allow the driver to receive incoming telephonecalls if the vehicle allows hands-free telephone communications and mayalso allow outgoing phone calls if those can be made using only voicecommands. It may also allow the operation of navigation apps on thedriver's personal devices, for example. However, it would not allow thedriver's personal devices to be used for any applications that would bemore distracting than, for example, listening to a radio or chattingwith a passenger.

In some cases, the default condition is for the apps to be disabled whenthe car engine is started. In these cases, the system would enable thoseapps for the passengers, while leaving the driver's distracting appsdisabled. In other cases, the default condition is for the apps toremain enabled when the car engine is started. In those cases,distracting apps on the driver's personal devices would be disabledimmediately after the engine is started.

With these embodiments, the apps on the passengers' personal deviceswould not be disabled in any way such that the passengers would havefull use of their personal devices, so that they could watch videos orlisten to music, possibly play video games with friends, or use socialmedia.

In a further embodiment, the system may determine that the vehicle hasbeen in an accident. For example, if most or all of the various personaldevices in the vehicle suddenly change their positions—for example ifthey all appear to have been thrown towards the front of the vehicle—thesystem may conclude that an accident may have occurred. In that case,the system could alert first responders as to the possibility of anaccident. The system may also report the identity of the person who wasdriving the vehicle at the time of the accident.

FIG. 1 is a schematic illustration 100 showing a vehicle 102 travellingin the direction indicated by arrow 130. Vehicle 102 has four occupants,including a driver 122 behind a steering wheel 106, a front seatpassenger 124, a left rear seat passenger 126 and a right rear seatpassenger 128. A personal device 112 is positioned to the right ofdriver 122. Passenger 124 is holding a personal device 114; passenger126 is holding a personal device 116; and passenger 128 is holding apersonal device 118.

Vehicle monitoring and communications systems 104 may include units thatmonitor the status of the vehicle such as whether the drivers and/orpassengers are occupying their seats, whether safety belts are beingused, and whether the doors are opened or closed. They may also monitorthe speed, travel direction and location of the vehicle. Systems 104 mayalso contain information regarding the configuration of the vehicle,such as whether its steering wheel is on the left side or right side ofthe vehicle.

In the exemplary illustration shown in FIG. 1 , vehicle 102 istravelling in the left-hand lane in the direction indicated by arrow130. It has a second vehicle 134 to its right, travelling in the samedirection as vehicle 104, as indicated by arrow 132. Vehicle 134 has adriver 138, who has a personal device 136 positioned nearby. Vehicle 144is to the left of vehicle 104, travelling in the opposite direction asshown by arrow 146. Vehicle 144 has a driver 140, who has a personaldevice 142 positioned nearby. Thus, in this example, the system needs todetermine which of device 112, device 114, device 116, device 118,device 136 and device 142 are collocated within vehicle 102 andtherefore need to be included in the mesh network, and which are not,and therefore need to be excluded from the mesh network.

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of an exemplary personal device thatincludes a personal area network (PAN) app 202, a navigation app 204, asocial media app 206, a phone app 208, a motion and location app 210, asafety/security app 212, a messaging app 214 and a web browser 216. Inmost cases, safety may be improved by disabling social media app 206,messaging app 214 and the web browser 216 on the driver's personaldevice 112, while allowing full operation of PAN app 202, navigation app204, safety/security app 212 and motion and location app 210 on thedriver's personal device 112. If the driver's personal device 112 allowshands-free phone operation, phone app 208 on the driver's personaldevice 112 may allow calls to be received but not initiated, or mayallow both incoming and outgoing functionality. The passengers' personaldevices, including personal device 114, personal device 116 and personaldevice 118, would retain their full functionality.

FIG. 3 is a schematic block diagram showing an example of the kind ofloose mesh network that needs to be established in vehicle 102, shown inFIG. 1 . When the mesh network is established, the driver's personaldevice 302 will be in communication with each of passenger 1's personaldevice 306, passenger 2's personal device 304 and passenger 3's personaldevice 308, as indicated by the jagged arrows in FIG. 3 . It should benoted, however, that although FIG. 1 and FIG. 3 show the driver ashaving just one personal device, the driver may have more than onepersonal device. In that case, the descriptions of the functionality ofthe driver's personal device set forth herein would be applicable to allof the driver's personal devices. Each of the passengers' personaldevices would also be in wireless communication with all the otherpersonal devices that have been collocated in the vehicle, including thedriver's device(s) and the other passengers' personal devices, asindicated by the jagged arrows in FIG. 3 .

The first step in establishing the loose mesh network in vehicle 102 isto identify those personal devices that are actually in vehicle 102 anddistinguish those personal devices that are in the general proximity ofvehicle 102 without actually being within vehicle 102. FIG. 1 shows twosuch examples. Personal device 142 is in vehicle 144 which is travellingin the direction shown by arrow 146, which is opposite to the traveldirection of vehicle 102. If at least one of vehicle 102 and vehicle 144is moving, then personal device 142 can be quickly eliminated as beingpossibly collocated within vehicle 102 because vehicle 144 will not beproximal to vehicle 102 for more than a very brief time. If bothvehicles are stationary, personal device 142 may be eliminated basedupon its distance from the other personal devices using, for example,the pinging technique described below with reference to FIG. 4 , orbased upon the relative signal strength of the ping received frompersonal device 142 compared to the signal strength of pings receivedfrom the other devices. Device 142 may also be eliminated simply bywaiting until one of the vehicles starts moving.

Distinguishing devices located in adjoining vehicles travelling in thesame direction is somewhat more difficult. For example, if vehicle 134is travelling in the direction shown by arrow 132 is travelling at thesame speed as vehicle 102, device 136 would not be quickly eliminatedbased simply on relative motion. For example, if both vehicle 102 andvehicle 134 were on cruise control, with the cruise control set to thespeed limit, personal device 136 would be travelling at the same speedin the same direction and have roughly the same location as the personaldevices in vehicle 102. In most cases, however, this rough locationsimilarity would not last very long as the drivers shift lanes, speed upor slow down, for example, and personal device 136 could be eliminatedfrom inclusion the mesh network for this reason alone.

Furthermore, personal devices such as personal device 136 may beeliminated from inclusion in the mesh network by (1) measuring thedistance between the various personal devices under consideration forinclusion in the mesh network, and/or (2) comparing the relative signalstrength of the pings received from the various personal devices underconsideration for inclusion in the mesh network. The distances betweenany two devices may be estimated by sending pings from a sending deviceto a receiving device, with a time stamp identifying the precise timethe ping was sent. The receiving device could then calculate thedistance between the sending device and the receiving device based onthe delay in receiving the ping. Also, the signal strength of the pingfrom personal device 136 received at, for example, personal device 112,is likely to be much lower than the signal strength of pings received atpersonal device 112 from personal device 114, for example, simplybecause personal device 114 is indeed much closer to personal device 112than is personal device 136. Also, the ping from personal device 136 maybe further attenuated by physical barriers between the personal devices.Thus, personal device 136 in vehicle 134 may be identified as not beingcollocated, compared to the locations of personal device 112, personaldevice 114, personal device 116 and personal device 118 based upondistance and signal strength.

The system may also use information received from the vehicle'smonitoring units. For example, if the vehicle reports that four seatsare occupied and four seatbelts are in use, and the system had onlyidentified three personal devices, it may search a little longer for afourth collocated personal device before concluding that there are onlythree personal devices in the vehicle.

FIG. 4 shows an exemplary flowchart 400 that may be used to establish aloose mesh network that includes all the personal devices within a givenvehicle, such as Device A which is listening in resting step 430, DeviceB which is listening in resting step 432, personal device C which islistening in resting step 434 and personal device D which is listeningin resting step 436, as shown schematically on the left side of FIG. 4 .Then, in step 402 one of the four personal devices, referred to inflowchart 400 as Device A and which had been resting until that instant,determines that the vehicle is moving at a velocity which is greaterthan any velocity that typical human beings would normally be capable ofattaining when walking or running. This velocity will be referred-toherein as a threshold velocity. For example, the threshold velocity maybe 8 mph, 10 mph or 12 mph. Device A then broadcasts pings in step 404and listens to determine if there are any possible collocated personaldevices. The pings include a time stamp identifying the time the pingwas sent, as well as specifying the location, direction of travel andvelocity of travel of Device A. The pings sent out by the personaldevices in the embodiments described above may be wireless pings, butthey may also be other types of pings, such as acoustic pings, forexample.

In step 406, another device in the vehicle, for example Device B,receives the ping from Device A, and calculates the collocationprobability in step 408 based upon the criteria described briefly aboveand in greater detail below. If device B determines that collocation isprobable, for example by calculating that the probability of collocationexceeds a certain threshold (such as 75%, 85%, 90% or greater), Device Bresponds to Device A in step 410 with a ping of its own back to Device Awith, for example, its position relative to Device A, the velocity ofDevice B relative to Device A, and the time it received the ping sent byDevice A, for example.

In step 412, Device A then determines that Device B is proximal toDevice A and establishes a loose network of collocated devices withDevice B. In step 414 Device A and Device B exchange identification ofother devices either of them might have identified as being probablywithin the same vehicle. In step 416 any duplicates are eliminated, andthe identified and de-duplicated personal devices are merged into asingle network. In step 418 the system checks to determine if thevehicle engine has been turned off. If the vehicle engine is stillrunning, in step 420 the system continues maintaining the loose meshnetwork (generally after a time delay) by possibly adding personaldevices to the network as described below with reference to FIG. 5 or bypossibly removing devices as described below with reference to FIG. 6 .If the vehicle engine has been turned off, the system closes down thenetwork in step 422.

In this example, for convenience, Device A may be referred to as theprimary personal device and Device B and any additional personal devicesmay be referred-to as secondary personal devices.

The determination of whether collocation is probable in step 408 may bemade based on criteria such as (a) the time to receive a ping, sincepings that are outside a specific time frame are likely too far to be inthe same vehicle; (b) the relative velocity of Device B with respect toDevice A, since if the two devices are travelling at differentvelocities they could not be in the same vehicle; (c) sending asecondary validation ping to determine if the relative positions of thetwo devices may have changed, since that would also indicate that theyare in different vehicles; (d) the signal strength, as discussed above;and (e) the number of relatively identical pings, since if Device Acontinues to send pings and Device B continues to receive those pings,the two devices are likely to be collocated.

As noted above, the system may also use information received from thevehicle's monitoring units in making its determination of collocation.For example, in some embodiments the vehicle's monitoring unit mayprovide the vehicle's velocity to the personal devices, and only thosedevices that are moving at the same velocity as the vehicle (thevelocity may be averaged over several seconds) would be included in themesh network.

Personal devices may be added to the loose mesh network as shown in theexemplary flowchart 500 in FIG. 5 . For example, in some cases apersonal device that may have been turned off when the vehicle startedmoving may be turned on at a later time during the trip. In other cases,the vehicle may stop and a new passenger with another personal devicemay enter the vehicle. Thus the process starts in step 502, when DeviceA, for example, determines that the vehicle is moving, and pings andlistens in step 504. In step 506, Device A determines that it hasreceived a responsive ping from a new personal device, i.e., a personaldevice that had not been part of the loose mesh network until then. Thesystem then determines whether that new personal device is collocatedwith the personal devices that are already on the loose mesh network instep 508 using the methodology described above with respect to step 408in FIG. 4 . If the new personal device is collocated, it is added to theloose mesh network in step 510.

The system then checks to see if it can detect any additional newpersonal devices in step 512. If it does not detect any other newpersonal devices, the system proceeds to a time delay in step 516 andthen returns to step 504. If it does detect another additional device,it then determines if that additional device is also collocated, andadds the additional device to the network in step 514. In step 518 thesystem checks to see if the vehicle engine has been turned off. If theengine is off, the process ends in step 520. If the engine is stillrunning, the process proceeds to the time delay in step 516 and thenstarts again by pinging and listening in step 504.

Personal devices that have left the network can be removed according to,for example, flowchart 600 shown in FIG. 6 . In step 602, one of thedevices on the loose mesh network issues a series of pings to the otherdevices on the network. For example, Device A may issue these pings, butit could be any of the other personal devices on the loose mesh network.In step 604, this device determines whether any of the personal deviceson its list of personal devices on the mesh network is no longerresponding to its pings. If all the devices on the mesh network respondto its pings, the device returns to step 602 to continue the process. Insome embodiments, it does so after a time delay. If one or more of thepersonal devices on the loose mesh network is not responsive, the deviceidentifies the non-responsive devices in step 606. After a time delay instep 608, the device checks again to confirm whether the missing deviceis still non-responsive in step 610. If the device still does notreceive a response in step 612, the device then removes thenon-responsive device from the loose mesh network in step 614. Theprocess then continues in step 616, and returns to step 602 to startchecking again. The loop from step 616 up to step 602 may include a timedelay, for example a 100 second delay, to relieve the burden on the meshnetwork.

Even without an event such as the vehicle stopping and a door beingopened, one or more of the devices may perform a periodic audit of themesh network to make sure that all previously identified personaldevices are still in communication with the mesh network and that noadditional devices have started operating within the vehicle.

Once the loose mesh network has been established according to, forexample, the process shown in FIG. 4 , the system proceeds to identifywhich of the personal devices is associated with the driver of thevehicle. It does so in order that it can ensure that certain distractingapps in the driver's personal device are disabled, while allowing fullfunctionality to all the other personal devices in the vehicle. Forexample, if applied to vehicle 102 in FIG. 1 , the system would proceedto determine which of the personal devices is personal device 112 whichis associated with the driver 122, so that it can ensure that thedistracting apps in personal device 112 are disabled, without having todisable any functionalities of personal device 114, personal device 116or personal device 118.

As shown in the embodiment illustrated in flowchart 700 shown in FIG. 7, the process starts in step 702 when the loose mesh network isestablished. In step 704 one of the personal devices—denoted as Device Ain FIG. 7 —pings all the other personal devices on the loose meshnetwork, and in step 706 the other personal devices calculate theirrelative positions at the time Device A sent the ping out based on thedelay between when the ping was emitted and when it was received by theother personal devices. In step 708 the other devices send theirrelative positions back to Device A. Device A may also use, for example,information received from the vehicle units (such as the position of thedriver, passenger seat occupation and seat belt usage, for example), thedirection of travel and the velocity of the vehicle, and any localdriving standards (such as driving on the left side or the right side ofthe road). Device A then generates a map of the relative positions ofthe different personal devices in step 710, and transmits thatinformation to the other personal devices in step 712. The otherpersonal devices receive the pings and update their knowledge of theloose mesh network in step 714. Finally, depending on whether in step716 the process determines that the default for all the devices is thatthe distracting apps are enabled or disabled, all the apps on thenon-driver personal devices are enabled in step 718 or the distractingapps on the driver's personal device are disabled in step 720. Thus, atthe end of the exemplary process illustrated in flowchart 700, thedriver has been identified, and the distracting apps on the personaldevice(s) associated with the driver have been disabled, while the otherpersonal devices retain their full functionality.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart 800 that shows how the system can respond to achange in the driver when a vehicle stops without the engine beingturned off. In step 802, one of the personal devices determines that thevehicle has stopped (or is so informed by the vehicle's monitoringunits). In step 804, the vehicle's monitoring unit checks to see if anyof the doors have been opened and provides that information to the loosemesh network. If no doors have been opened, the process continues instep 814, and returns to step 804 (possibly after a time delay) to againcheck if any doors have been opened. If the process determines that adoor has been opened, in step 806 the process checks to determine if anew driver is now sitting in the driver's seat, for example followingthe procedures outlined in flowchart 700 illustrated in FIG. 7 . Theprocess then disables the distracting apps on the new driver's personaldevices in step 808, and checks to determine if the first driver is nowa passenger in step 810. If the first driver is now a passenger his orher personal device(s) are then restored to their full functionality instep 812, and the process continues in step 814, where it is returned tostep 804.

Finally, in the event of an accident, the system can alert firstresponders and also provide useful information to the authorities and/orinsurance companies. Accidents may be detected by determining that thepersonal devices have suddenly dramatically changed their position. Forexample, the personal devices may suddenly all be thrown to the front ofthe vehicle. In other cases, the devices may be thrown to a side or tothe rear of the vehicle, depending upon the particular accident. Asshown in flowchart 900 of FIG. 9 , once an event has been detected instep 902, the devices on the loose mesh network determine whether anaccident may have occurred in step 904. For example, if the vehiclestarts moving again, a serious accident is unlikely to have occurred,whereas if the vehicle becomes stationary, a serious accident ispossible. If the system determines that an accident did not happen, thenthe personal devices on the loose mesh network continue operating asbefore as shown in step 906. However, if a serious accident might havehappened, one or more of the personal devices might identify the likelyidentity of the driver at the time of the accident in step 908, reportthe possibility of an accident and its location to first responders instep 910, and report the identity of the likely driver to theauthorities (and possibly to the vehicle's insurance company) in step912.

In some cases, the computations required to determine which personaldevices are collocated and to identify the driver of the vehicle may becomputationally demanding for personal devices. For example, a bus withdozens of passengers would need much more computational power than woulda four-passenger sedan. In such cases, the computational burden may beshared among the different personal devices that have been identified asbeing collocated within the vehicle.

As shown above, embodiments described herein reduce the risk ofaccidents while retaining the full functionality of passengers' personaldevices by disabling distracting apps only on the driver's personaldevice. Also, in the case of an accident, an embodiment could alertfirst responders as to the possibility of an accident and its location,and could also identify the driver at the time of the accident for theauthorities and/or for insurance companies.

While various embodiments have been described above, the description isintended to be exemplary, rather than limiting and it will be apparentto those of ordinary skill in the art that many more embodiments andimplementations are possible that are within the scope of the invention.Accordingly, the invention is not to be restricted except in light ofthe attached claims and their equivalents. Also, various modificationsand changes may be made within the scope of the attached claims.

I claim:
 1. A method for reducing distractions for a first driver of amotor vehicle comprising: a first personal device broadcasting pingsthat include a time stamp identifying when the pings were sent; a secondpersonal device receiving the pings broadcast by the first personaldevice that calculates that the probability that the second personaldevice is collocated with the first personal device and responding tothe first personal device by reporting its position relative to thefirst personal device, its velocity relative to the first personaldevice's velocity, and the time it received the ping from the firstpersonal device; the first personal device then determining that thesecond personal device is proximal to the first personal device andestablishing a mesh network with the second personal device; the firstpersonal device and the second personal device then exchangingidentification of additional personal devices that might have previouslybeen identified by either of these two personal devices, eliminatingredundancy of the previously identified additional personal devices, andadding non-redundant additional personal devices to the mesh network;identifying which of the personal devices on the mesh network areassociated with the driver of the motor vehicle and which of thepersonal devices are associated with passengers in the motor vehicle;and disabling at least one distracting application from at least one ofthe personal devices associated with the driver.
 2. The method of claim1, wherein the step of disabling at least one distracting applicationfrom at least one of the personal devices associated with the driverdoes not disable applications from personal devices that are associatedonly with passengers in the motor vehicle.
 3. The method of claim 1,further comprising determining if one of the motor vehicle's doors hasbeen opened during a stop, determining if a new driver has now replacedthe first driver, and disabling at least one distracting application onat least one of the new driver's personal devices.
 4. The method ofclaim 3, further comprising determining if the first driver is now apassenger in the vehicle, and restoring full functionality to at leastone of the first driver's personal devices.
 5. The method of claim 1,further comprising determining if the motor vehicle has been in anaccident, and identifying at least one personal device associated withthe driver when the accident occurred.
 6. The method of claim 1, whereinthe step of identifying which of the personal devices are associatedwith the driver comprises generating a map of relative positions of thepersonal devices.
 7. The method of claim 1, further comprisingdetermining that the motor vehicle has been in an accident based atleast on a sudden dramatic change in position of the second personaldevice relative to the first personal device, and alerting firstresponders.
 8. A method, performed by a first personal device within amotor vehicle, for reducing distractions for a driver of the motorvehicle, comprising: broadcasting a ping that includes a time stampidentifying when the ping was sent, the ping being received by a secondpersonal device; receiving, from the second personal device, a positionof the second personal device relative to the first personal device, avelocity of the second personal device relative to a velocity of thefirst personal device, and a time the second personal device receivedthe ping from the first personal device; determining that the secondpersonal device is proximal to the first personal device; establishing acommunication with the second personal device; exchanging, with thesecond personal device, identification of additional personal devicesthat were previously identified by either of the first personal deviceand the second personal device as being within the motor vehicle;eliminating redundancy of the previously identified additional personaldevices; adding non-redundant additional personal devices to thecommunication; identifying which of the personal devices on thecommunication are associated with the driver of the motor vehicle andwhich of the personal devices on the communication are associated withpassengers in the motor vehicle; and instructing at least one of thepersonal devices associated with the driver of the motor vehicle todisable at least one distracting application.
 9. The method of claim 8,wherein the step of instructing the personal devices associated with thedriver of the motor vehicle to disable distracting applications does notdisable applications from the personal devices that are associated onlywith passengers in the motor vehicle.
 10. The method of claim 8, furthercomprising: determining that a door of the motor vehicle has been openedduring a stop; determining that a new driver has now replaced the driverof the motor vehicle; and instructing at least one personal device ofthe new driver to disable at least one distracting application.
 11. Themethod of claim 10, further comprising: determining that the driver ofthe motor vehicle is now a passenger in the motor vehicle; andinstructing at least one personal device of the driver of the motorvehicle to restore functionality to at least one application of thepersonal devices of the driver of the motor vehicle that is now thepassenger in the motor vehicle.
 12. The method of claim 8, furthercomprising: determining that the motor vehicle has been in an accident;and identifying at least one personal device associated with the driverof the motor vehicle when the accident occurred.
 13. The method of claim8, wherein the step of identifying which of the personal devices on thecommunication are associated with the driver of the motor vehiclecomprises generating a map of relative positions of the personaldevices.
 14. The method of claim 8, further comprising: determining thatthe motor vehicle has been in an accident based at least on a suddendramatic change in position of the second personal device relative tothe first personal device; and alerting first responders.
 15. A method,performed by a first personal device within a motor vehicle, forreducing distractions for a driver of the motor vehicle, comprising:broadcasting a ping that includes a time stamp identifying when the pingwas sent, the ping being configured for receipt by a second personaldevice; receiving, from the second personal device, a position of thesecond personal device relative to the first personal device, a velocityof the second personal device relative to a velocity of the firstpersonal device, and a time the second personal device received the pingfrom the first personal device; determining that the second personaldevice is proximal to the first personal device; establishing acommunication with the second personal device; identifying which of thepersonal devices on the communication are associated with the driver ofthe motor vehicle and which of the personal devices on the communicationare associated with passengers in the motor vehicle; and instructing atleast one of the personal devices associated with the driver of themotor vehicle to disable at least one distracting application.
 16. Themethod of claim 15, further comprising: identifying at least oneadditional personal device as being within the motor vehicle; receiving,from the second personal device, identification of at least oneadditional personal device as being within the motor vehicle;eliminating redundancy of the identified additional personal devices;and adding non-redundant additional personal devices to thecommunication.
 17. The method of claim 15, wherein the step ofinstructing the personal devices associated with the driver of the motorvehicle to disable distracting applications does not disableapplications from personal devices that are associated only withpassengers in the motor vehicle.
 18. The method of claim 15, furthercomprising: determining that a door of the motor vehicle has been openedduring a stop; determining that a new driver has now replaced the driverof the motor vehicle; and instructing at least one personal device ofthe new driver to disable at least one distracting application.
 19. Themethod of claim 18, further comprising: determining that the driver ofthe motor vehicle is now a passenger in the motor vehicle; andinstructing at least one personal device of the driver of the motorvehicle to restore functionality to at least one application of thepersonal devices of the driver of the motor vehicle that is now thepassenger in the motor vehicle.
 20. The method of claim 15, wherein thestep of identifying which of the personal devices on the communicationare associated with the driver of the motor vehicle comprises generatinga map of relative positions of the personal devices.